A body has been discovered in southwestern France in the search for Lyhanna, an 11-year-old girl who went missing nearly a week ago, triggering national grief and a fierce debate over failures in the country's judicial system. The body was found on Thursday in a grain silo at a farm near Puycasquier, a village roughly 15 kilometres from Fleurance — a small town of around 6,000 inhabitants in the Gers department — where the girl was last seen on Friday 29 May getting into a man's car near her school. A prosecutor said the body was that of a child wearing clothing consistent with what Lyhanna had on at the time of her disappearance. Formal identification was still underway.
A 41-year-old man, described as the father of one of Lyhanna's friends, was detained as the prime suspect. Security camera footage showed Lyhanna entering his vehicle, making it the last known trace of her. The suspect initially told police he had dropped her off at a swimming pool at her own request, but prosecutors described that account as inaccurate and contradictory. He has denied any involvement. Lyhanna's parents had reportedly grown uneasy about the man after she told them he had tickled her extensively and singled her out with special attention at a sleepover. They had instructed her to avoid him, yet he is said to have continued appearing near her school with small treats for her and other girls.
What has provoked particular outrage is the suspect's history of prior accusations. Legal complaints against him stretch back to 2017, when a mother reported that her 17-year-old daughter was in a relationship with him; that case was dropped in 2018. In 2022, he was accused of raping a child under 15, but the case was dismissed in 2024 for lack of evidence. Most critically, a complaint filed in August 2025 accused him of repeatedly raping a minor between September 2024 and May 2025. Despite nine months passing since that complaint, he had not been questioned by investigators when Lyhanna disappeared. He was also reportedly dismissed from a secondary school in Gers in 2020 for an inappropriate relationship with a student, though whether that incident was reported to police is still being investigated.
The case has shaken France's political establishment. Government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon said what was emerging